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Rant: Tried using a dry lubricant on elevator guide rails and now I'm kicking myself

Switched to a graphite-based dry lube on a Schindler 3300 in a 12-story office building last month and now I'm getting weird vibration complaints from the 8th through 10th floors - has anyone else run into issues with dry lube not holding up on heavily used mid-rise rails?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaronroberts1d ago

That graphite stuff is terrible for anything with heavy door cycles, I switched back to a lithium grease after three weeks of chasing the same groaning noise on our ThyssenKrupp units. Had to scrub the rails with acetone three times to get that chalky mess off.

kellyallen1d ago

We put that same graphite stuff on a 16-story Otis in a hospital around six months ago and the top floors started getting these real specific lateral shakes, not vibrations. What kind of weird noise are they describing from 8 to 10, like a low groan or more of a high-pitched squeak? We found out the hard way that dry lube can't handle the heavier car loading patterns on those middle floors where people pile on, especially with the door cycles. Did you clean the old grease off completely first or just spray over top of it?

tessalane1d ago

Nah, I gotta push back on that a little. The lateral shakes you're talking about sound more like a rail alignment issue or maybe the guide shoe tension being off, not a lube problem. And that groan between 8 and 10 is classic dry lube burning off under too much friction, especially if the old grease wasn't fully stripped with a solvent first. Spraying over top just makes a gritty paste that locks up the slides, then the car starts fighting itself on the heavy floors. You gotta completely degrease those rails and start fresh, otherwise the graphite never gets a clean bite.